PARIS PROCEEDING ON POT DISPENSARY MORATORIUM

PARIS - The Board of Selectmen on Monday unanimously voted to adopt a
moratorium to go to a special town meeting.

The ordinance to establish a moratorium is based on one proposed to
the town of Eliot and ultimately rejected there June 12. It states
that the town does not have any ordinances to regulate dispensaries,
and that the existing ordinances are inadequate to address the issue.

It asks for six months to study the issue, and during that time the
town may not take action on any applications for dispensaries or
cultivating facilities or allow such facilities to operate in the town.

Town Manager Phil Tarr said a hearing on the moratorium will take
place at the next regular selectmen's meeting July 12. The special
town meeting to address the moratorium and other issues will take
place on July 26.

The board first discussed the question at their meeting June 14 after
a resident's request to establish locations in town to grow and sell
medical marijuana. The applications to the Planning Board were removed
pending town discussion on the issue, and no locations in Oxford
County appear on a list of 29 preliminary applications submitted to
the state before a June 25 deadline.

Selectman Ted Kurtz said there can be different interpretations of the
dispensary law. Under one interpretation, towns can limit the number
of dispensaries to such an extent that none can be established. He
said that the Department of Health and Human Services states that
towns cannot ban the dispensaries.

"I'm really confused about the law here, and for that reason I think
we ought to go with the moratorium," he said.

Selectman Lloyd "Skip" Herrick said he does not think towns can ban
dispensaries due to state approval of the facilities last year, but
agreed that more time was needed to discuss the issue.

"I think there is enough unknown here to move forward here with the
issue for the public in July, to seek out their feedback," he said.

In November, Maine voters approved a question allowing the
establishment of licensed dispensaries to distribute marijuana to
people with a prescription for the drug. The decision came a decade
after a vote in which state voters allowed the prescription and
limited possession of marijuana for medical purposes.

Pat Pelletier, a business teacher at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High
School in Paris, submitted applications for two medical marijuana
facilities to the Planning Board earlier this month. One proposed
cultivating marijuana in the Perfect Stitch Embroidery building on
James Road off Route 26, while the other sought to establish a
dispensary in a now-vacant storefront in the Cornwall Shopping Plaza
on Route 26.

The state established June 25 as a deadline for applications for
dispensaries, and will announce licenses on July 9. Currently, DHHS is
only approving one dispensary for each of the state's eight public
health districts in the first year. Oxford County's district includes
Franklin and Androscoggin counties as well.

Pelletier's application does not appear on the list of 29 applications
submitted to the state, and her phone number was not in service on
Tuesday. Six applications have been accepted for the district, with
proposed locations in Auburn, Poland and Wilton.